How to hold & combine orders

Learn how to combine orders manually or automatically

Click here to learn how to turn these features on.

In this article:

• Benefits of combining orders
• How to turn on Hold & Combine
• Where do shipping savings return to?
• Combine orders shipped to different countries
• What happens if I turn Hold & Combine off?
• How to manually combine orders

How these features will save you time and money:

Our previous All-in-Cost is a combination of (Product Cost + Margin) + (Shipping Cost.) For items that are were launched prior to 9/21/2022 we've extracted $5 from the All-In-Cost cost and moved it to the order level. New items will be launched with this change taken into account. This sets the stage for big cost savings on multi-item orders and...COMBINED ORDERS!

We're giving you the option to place a 24-hour Holding period on all your orders. During this hold, you can check your customers' payments and potential fraud. When you are ready, you can manually select orders, manually combine, manually process(individually)...or...wait for it...turn on Auto Combine for full automated savings! 

We highly recommend turning Holding Period & Auto Combine on. When you turn on the 24 hour Holding Period we'll scan your incoming orders for matching names & addresses.  After your 24 hour holding period expires, Auto-Combine (when turned on) will combine and process these orders! For each additional order that is combined,  you will receive a $5 shipping refund. 

For the ultimate in easy, hands off business operations turn on 1) Auto Checkout, 2) Holding Period, and 3) Auto Combine at the same time! This will push your orders through instantly, apply your holding period, scan for matches to combine, auto-combine after the holding period, issue any additional shipping refunds and send your orders through to processing without you doing a thing!

Worried about fraud orders?  Our customer support team is always here to try their best to help you cancel the order as long as they haven't been shipped.  

Lastly, let's see an example of how the 24h hold & combine would work:

How to turn on the Hold & Combine features: 

1. Go into your Orders page and click the Hold & Combine setting button.

2. Holding Period &  Auto Combine

Holding Period allows you to set your orders' status to Holding immediately after checkout for 24 hours, after which it will automatically move through to Processing.  We currently only support 24 hours periods, and we will allow more options  in the future.

Auto Combine will combine orders with matching customer names and addresses* at the end of the Holding Period of the first, initiating order.

• Address*:  this includes everything your customer put in the whole "Shipping Address" section on your Shopify. Note: the phone numbers are included too.
  

3. Exclude Sample Orders:  as boutique owners we know getting samples fast is critical so we've put a checkbox where you can choose whether to include sample orders in your hold period or not. If you check the box, your sample orders will also be held.

4. You'll notice a new status in your orders screen where you can watch all your Holding Period orders. During the holding period, you can cancel, process them individually, or manually combine the orders. After the hold is complete, they will move to Processing status.

5. You can also manually combine orders during the holding period. Go to Holding status, and multi-select the orders you want to combine manually.  Be careful, you'll have options to choose the address to which you want the combined order to ship to. You can also choose to ship to your own saved address to accommodate various needs, such as local pickup.

6. You are able to cancel orders in Holding status by clicking "Cancel".  Today, it will lead you to talk to our customer support team, and they will help you cancel the order. There is no guarantees that an order can be cancelled once it is placed but we will absolutely do our best!   

Manually Combine

If you prefer to manually combine your orders, or combine and process earlier, you may do this by going to the "Holding" status filter and selecting the orders you want to combine using the checkbox provided on each order card. 

Press "Combine & Process" to do so, and then select the address you would like to send the combined order to. Note that you will only be able to manually combine any orders that are "Holding" status.

FAQ 

1. Where do you refund to? How can I check it?

We'll show you how much we'll refund as Shipping Savings on the order detail page.  We'll refund it to the card you paid with, so you can also check with your card company. Please allow 5-10 business days for your refunds to reflect. Each bank is different, and some take longer than others to credit these amounts. 

2. How do you deal with orders containing items shipping from different countries? 

We'll display different shipments in different rows and also sync the tracking number to the proper shipments to your Shopify.

3. I turned the Hold Order feature on, but later I changed my mind, what will happen to my orders?

If you choose to turn it off, we'll immediately process the orders that are in the Holding status. If you additionally have Auto Combine also turned on, we will attempt to combine as many as possible before we release those orders to Processing.